about the size of a reale, in which are five spots
or stains of the hue of blood, evidently setting
forth the five wounds received by Our Lord on
the cross.' The colour of the column, the crown,
and the nails, is a clear green (verde chiara).
The crown itself is surrounded by a kind of
veil, or very fine hair, of a violet colour (di color
pavonazzo), the filaments of which number
seventy-two, answering to the number of thorns
with which, according to tradition, Our Lord's
crown was set; and the leaves of the plant,
abundant and beautiful, are shaped like the
head of a lance or pike, referring, no doubt, to
that which pierced the side of Our Saviour,
whilst they are marked beneath with round
spots, signifying the thirty pieces of silver."

Such is Bosio's account of this most "stupendous"
flower. He had never seen it; and
although it was described and figured in Spain in
the same year, no plants or seeds of it seem as
yet to have reached Europe. But the stir which
the works of Bosio and of the "ingenious"
persons of Bologna caused among the botanists and
theologians of Italy, soon brought about the
introduction of the plant itself; and, before the
year 1625, it had established itself, and
blossomed, at Rome, in the gardens of Cardinal
Odoardo Farnese, then the most distinguished
patron of horticulture in Europe. Tobias
Aldinus, of Cesena, who was at once the keeper
of the cardinal's garden and his physician,
describes the passion-flower in his account of the
rarer plants in the Farnesian gardens (Rome,
1625). "This," he says, "is the famous plant
sung by poets and celebrated by orators, the
plant reasoned about by philosophers with the
utmost subtlety, praised by physicians for its
marvellous virtues, sought for eagerly by the
sick, wondered at by theologians, and venerated
by all pious Christians." Its native Indian
name was "maracot;" from the likeness of the
fruit to a small pomegranate, it was sometimes
called "granadilla;" but in Italy it was usually
known as "Fior della Passione," the name
which it has retained throughout Europe.
Aldinus, a man of science as well as a "pious
Christian," gives a very beautiful and accurate
engraving of the flower; and then, setting aside
many of Bosio's marvels, he proceeds to show
"what theologians may really find in it."

"The nails on the top are represented so
exactly that nothing more perfect can be
imagined. They are sometimes three, sometimes
four in number; and there is a difference
of opinion as to the number of nails used in
fastening Our Lord to the cross." (Only there
are occasionally five nails, and no theologian
has ever pronounced for this number.) "In the
open flower they are twisted, and marked with
dark blood-like spots, as if they had been already
removed from the cross. The small undeveloped
seed-vessel may be compared to the sponge full
of vinegar offered to Our Lord. The star-form
of the half-opened flower may represent the star
of the wise men: but the five petals, fully
opened, the five wounds. The base of the ovary
is the column of the flagellation. The filaments
represent the scourges spotted with blood, and
the purple circle on them is the crown of thorns,
blood covered. The white petals symbolise the
purity and brightness of Our Lord, and his white
robe. The 'corniculata folia,' the sub-petals,
white inside and green without, figure hope and
purity, and are sharply pointed, as if to indicate
the ready eagerness with which each one of the
faithful should embrace and consider the
mysteries of the Passion. The leaves of the whole
plant are set on singly, for there is one God,
but are triply divided, for there are Three
Persons. The plant itself would climb toward
heaven, but cannot do so without support. So
the Christian, whose nature it is to climb,
demands constant assistance. Cut down, it
readily springs up again, and whoever holds the
mysteries of the Passion in his heart cannot be
hurt by the evil world. Its fruit is sweet and
delicate, and the Passion of Our Lord brings
sweet and delectable fruit to us."

But after all, says Aldinus, although the
plant and flower may be thus explained, so
much mystery can hardly be discovered in it,
"nisi per vim," without a certain violence. For
the cross, the chief emblem of the Passion, does
not appear at all. There are sometimes five
nails, and there is no lance.

It is probable that the first passion-flower
seen in England was not brought from Italy,
but was introduced by some of our own
adventurers, from Virginia. At any rate, the
Incarnata, a Virginian species, is that figured by
John Parkinson, one of the earliest English
botanists, in his "Paradisus terrestris, a garden
of all sorts of pleasant flowers, which our
English ayre will permit to be nursed up." The
first edition ot this very curious book, which
gives us a complete picture of the English
garden at the beginning of the seventeenth
century, was published in 1629; and it is
amusing to compare Master Parkinson's sturdy
Protestantism with the "delicate subtleties" of
Bosio. "This brave and too much desired
flower," he tells us, "the surpassing delight
of all flowers," "maketh a tripartite show of
colours, most delightfull;" and is "of a comfortabell
sweet scent, very acceptabell." "Some
superstitious Jesuites," he goes on, "would
fain make men believe that in the flower of this
plant are to be seen all the marks of Our
Saviour's Passion, and therefore call it Flos
Passionis....and all as true as the sea
burnes; which you may well perceive by the
true figure, taken to the life, of the plant."
Parkinson proposed to call it Clematis Virginiana,
the Virgin climber; partly with reference to the
province from which it came, and partly (as the
province itself had been named) in honour of
the "bright occidental star," Queen Elizabeth,
the glories of whose reign were still freshly
remembered. But the Fior della Passione has
retained its Italian name, and much of its early
significance. It has been accepted, especially
in recent church decoration, as a worthy
companion of the rose and the lily—sacred symbols
from the most ancient times; and the New